Bird's Eye Birdseye Maple On Tokais

[villager]

Post copied from: 1981 ES200J quite possibly the rarest MIJ guitar ever..

been waiting 15 years for one of these to show up for sale!!

wssss0ssssw-img600x450-1497496784ggihrp23396 by generalunrest generalunrest, on Flickr
wssss0ssssw-img450x600-149749678440ybww23396 by generalunrest generalunrest, on Flickr

wssss0ssssw-img413x600-14974967848o3ibb23396 by generalunrest generalunrest, on Flickr

248609500_org.v1497496896[1] by generalunrest generalunrest, on Flickr

 

[_JDZ]

Post copied from: 1981 ES-150J (ES-335 Style Tokai)


I've only recently joined, but been following for some time.

Figured I'd share my favorite of the Tokai's I have.

It's an 81 ES-150J. ES-150 and ES-100 were new models in 1981 and each came in Rock and Jazz versions. Mine is a Jazz version, which means it has the Jazz, rather than Rock pickups.

The 100 and 150 are very much the same guitars, with the differences being the 150 has birds eye maple, a cashew lacquer finish (love the amber tone to it), ebony fretboard and upgraded electronics including oil condensers.


On both guitars Tokai used 3-ply maple (all three ply's are maple), single piece mahogany neck, MOP dots on the fretboard, same neck profile as used on 59 and 60 335's, 5-ply long pickguard, and solid maple center block sandwiched between spruce. Tokai’s catalog says they did exhaustive research into the details of ’58 to ’64 ES-335’s and all those details are just how the originals were made.

I’m really into vintage MIJ copies of ES-335’s and trying to document many of them more fully as the details on them aren’t nearly as well known as the Les Paul copies.

And if you are wondering, yes, the guitar plays and sounds fantastic.

John

DSC00757 by JDZ, on Flickr

DSC00740s by JDZ, on Flickr

DSC00750s by JDZ, on Flickr

20180205_203145s by JDZ, on Flickr
DSC00742s by JDZ, on Flickr

NeckCavity_s by JDZ, on Flickr

DSC00743s by JDZ, on Flickr

DSC00749s by JDZ, on Flickr

 

[Sigmania]

Very cool top, but wild price for an LS60 ($2,250)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/225179557182

 

[Sigmania]

Rare Tokai AST-56 with a Fender correct headstock and amazing bird's eye neck...

Tokai AST-56 1985-86 Blonde | Reverb

 

[Sigmania]

Circa 1994 Goldstar

Ebony fretboard too!

Used 1990s TOKAI TSS 2TS Sunburst MIJ Vintage Stratocaster 3.5kg W/GB | eBay

 

[Sigmania]

1980 Jazz Sound owned by guitar hiro

 

[Sigmania]

SN 014679

Custom Edition ST130

Ebony fretboard

NGD ST130 1983


From The Gear Page

Whittlez:

"Just arrived today. I chose this one in part because it has an Ebony fretboard so I wouldn't have to deal with CITES nonsense. And duuuuude. I am glad I did. This guitar is EP-IC. This is a mod (Essentially Tokai Custom Shop) of their top strat at the time in 1983, the ST-130. As with convention, the # 130 denotes a retail price in 1983 of 130,000 Yen, whereas most of their strats sold from 40-60,000 Yen. Two piece Sen Body, flame top, ebony fretboard. The frets are bigger than vintage but not as big as Medium Jumbo. It has a very unique bridge. i am going to have to find a trem bar that fits it to test it out. It appears to be solid brass. If it's plated, it shows no sign of it. The fretboard feels relatively flat for a strat. I need to pull out my radius gauges and test it out. The original pickups (and battery powered mid boost setup) are gone. In their place are SSL-5, SH-14 Duncans, and CTS pots and Orange Drop caps. The three way mini switch is really interesting. as best I can tell it goes from rear pickup tapped, center is full hbucker, and third position allows me to combine neck and bridge pickup (like a tele) . Whatever it's doing, it does full strat sparkle and quack and also does full 80's superstrat humbucker growl depending on setting, great for EVH, AC/DC and stuff like that, as well as classic strat single coil stuff. Super bitchen. I generally find the coil tap of a Hbucker to be inferior to a straight up single coil, but this sounds damn good. It had two high frets that I corrected as quickly as I could so I could get to playing it. I am supah stoked!"

 

[Sigmania]

1985 AST40 OWR

Neck plate mounted upside down...

Birdseye maple neck.

Used 1985 Tokai Goldstar Sound White

 

[Sigmania]

1978 LS60 BS

Birdseye top

【Tokai】LS-60（BS）Les Paul Reborn 1980年製... - ヤフオク!

 

[Sigmania]

1978 LS60 BS

Nice birdseye top

【Tokai】LS-60（BS）Les Paul Reborn 1980年製... - ヤフオク!

 

[Sigmania]

Check out the birdseye on this neck.

SN 1020372

1981 ST45 ?

★ Tokai ★ SPRINGY SOUND Springy Sound Stratocaster Birdseye Neck

 

[Sigmania]

Birdseye and not a sunburst finish (refinished?)


Broken neck repair.
Has the 80 fretboard stamp.
Changed pots & caps.

Tokai LS-80 MOD 1979 Japan Vintage

This is an LS-80 that appears to have been manufactured in 1979 based on the serial number.
There is a history of repairing broken necks, and the serial number was scratched off when the wood surface was repaired, but I was able to confirm the serial number with the first two digits 90.

 

[Sigmania]

1980 SS36 YS

SN 0007893

Birdseye maple neck

1980, excellent condition, dead condition, famous instrument, TOKAI, SILVER, STAR, Stratocaster, sunburst, burled neck, large head, JAPAN VINTAGE, bargain price

 

[Sigmania]

SN 107637

1985 PB50 MR

Defective Junk Tokai PB-50 HARD PUNCHER Tokai Hard Puncher P-bass Made in Japan